Black Planet
by MandoGirl22
Summary: It was a planet bathed in darkness... Updated and edited version
1. Chapter 1

Kestra Verd walked down the ramp of the _Ka'rta Tor_ , a Dynamic-class freighter that had been in her family for a long time. She placed her hands on her hips and looked around Nal Hutta, grimacing when she breathed in the smelly and polluted air. It's been a week since she had left Mandalore to strike out on her own, she was considered to be adult in her culture and now she wanted to find herself. Kestra wore Mandalorian armor of a primarily black coloration, over a black form-fitting flight suit. In addition to boots, jetpack and a utility belt, Kestra also benefited from her armor's gauntlets, the left of which was equipped with a hologram projector. Both gauntlets housed miniature flamethrowers capable of producing powerful streams of fire, and each was mounted with wrist rocket launchers that fired deadly projectiles. Kestra has a lightsaber clipped to her belt and it was a gift from Gotab. Kestra doesn't wear a helmet, since she normally uses it as a melee weapon instead of what is it is actually used for. She carries two blasters holstered on her armor's thigh plates, that she was known to wield with deadly accuracy. Kestra also carries a sniper rifle.

Kestra can sense her pet strill, Jax, standing behind her and without turning around to look at him, she said, "This shouldn't take long."

Jax looked like any other strill that could be found on Mandalore, he even drools a lot too...at least she thought Jax was a he, she couldn't see anything on him that told her what gender he was but Jax felt male to her.

Kestra raised her hood as she began walking down the walk way and as she passed a group of Trandoshans, she saw that they had a male Wookiee and he had a slave collar around his neck, Kestra reacted on instinct towards the sight, she had been taught at birth that slavery is something that cowardly people use when they can't fight against others. She ran towards then and in a flurry of kicks, punches and spins, they were all on the ground either dazed or out cold. Kestra turned and looked up at the male Wookiee; he was covered with a uniform of mid-length coat of thick hair in various shades of black and gray.

"Are you okay?" Kestra asked him, she really had to crane her neck back in order to look up at him.

He made a sound halfway between a bark and a snarl. "No problem, do you have a name?"

He moaned, shaking his head. "No name, uh? Well, how about Shuk'orok?"

He cocked his head and moaned again. "It means 'crushgaunt' in Mando'a; it's a sort of gauntlet."

He purred, which meant he liked it so she didn't need to respond, luckily she can understand Shyriiwook which was one of many languages that her aunts had taught her. Kestra felt a ping of pain when she thought of them.

Kestra looked at her new 'friend' and said, "Do you need any credits to go back to Kashyyyk?"

He growled low in his throat. "I see…so I saved your life and you owe me a life debt? Hmm, can you pilot a ship?"

He growled low in his throat again. "Good, though I doubt that even if you couldn't you'll come with me anyways, eh?"

He moaned. "Good to know that. Now you can either go to my ship or come with me."

He made a sound that was half way between a snarl and a moan. "Fine, but please try not to rip people's arms off." And with that she turned on her heel and began to walk away, but she didn't get far before she was nearly plowed over by a Mando'ade in red beskar'gam, luckily Shuk'orok caught her before she made friends with the pavement and by the looks of the pavement, she could that they didn't clean it…at all.

"Thanks, Shuk'orok." Kestra said while Shuk'orok purred at her then snarled at the Mando'ade. She could see that Shuk'orok was going to be extremely protective of her, which was okay with her because if she was going to get ran over by crazy Mando'ade then she's going to need all the help she can get. And she just realized just how much beskar'gam hurt when you weren't wearing it; she just knew that she was going to have a bruise later.

Surprisingly the Mando'ade understood him because he said, "Look, fuzz ball. I didn't see her walking there because I was too busy running from my new pals." And he jerked his thumb over his shoulder at a group of men in weird looking armor that was running towards them. His voice sounded menacing, coming from his helmet's vocoder though Kestra was used to it because she lived on Mandalore and everyone wore their beskar'gam.

Kestra sighed and shook her head, this day just kept getting better and better she almost couldn't yet to see what tomorrow would bring her.

"Fierfeks, what is it 'debts day' and no one even bothered to tell me?" Kestra said as she pulled out her personalized BlasTech LL-30 blaster pistols and started firing. She looks at the Wookiee and the Mando'ade over her shoulder and shouted "Go! Run to hangar A-10"

Both Wookiee and Mando'ade turned and ran off as Kestra fired a few shots then spun around and ran after them, she pulled out her comlink and said, "HK-28! There's been a change of plans! Prep Huntress for quick evac!"

"Response: Yes, Master," said the cold metallic voice of her HK-series assassin droid, HK-28. He and two other droids, T3-M7, a T3-series utility droid and 3C-CD, a 3C-series utility droid were the only three non-organic things on _Ka'rta Tor_. And like the Ka'rta Tor had been in the family for a very long time.

"Go to the Dynamic-class freighter! Shift it, people!" Kestra shouted as she turns around and fires a few potshots at the pursing group. Then she ran up the ramp hot on the heels of the other two.

"Outta my way!" Kestra said as she quickly darted past the two and ran to the cockpit and pulled up the steering yokes hard and the ship lifted up and shot out of Nal Hutta. Shuk'orok sat down in copilot seat as the Mando'ade sat in the navigator seat. Kestra pulled up the galaxy map then typed in 'Tatooine' then pushed another button to go into hyperspace. And as the ship got ready to make the jump to hyperspace, she looked over her shoulder at the Mando'ade and asked, "You got a name or am I going to have to name you too."

"Nope, my name is Ge'tal Gra'tua." He said as he took off his helmet, she inclines her head towards him then turns around. She didn't bother to give him a closer look but she did see that he had tribal tattoos on his forehead and most likely had them on the rest of his body, though she would get a better look after they jump into hyperspace. As for right now thought, she had to get out of Hutt space ASAP then she'll ask Ge'tal just why he was being chased by what was clearly bodyguards that belonged to a Hutt, not that she was going to send him back and nor did she care, but if it will help to know why and if she wanted him to become a member of her crew.

"My name is Kestra Verd; we'll discuss pleasantries after we make the jump into hyperspace." Kestra said, as the Ka'rta Tor made the jump into hyperspace. Once they did, she spun around in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest and said, "So why were you being chased by a Hutt's bodyguard?"

Ge'tal sighed and said, "I apparently insulted the Hutt."

Kestra cocked an eyebrow and asked, "Which Hutt? Jabba?"

"No, Jobo the Hutt." He said, with a light chuckle. Kestra heard about Jobo the Hutt, who was very well known for taking everything as an insult, you even looked at him funny he'll take it as an insult. Kestra sighed and asked, "So are you any good at fixing ships then you are at insulting a Hutt?"

She didn't need to ask him how he insulted Jobo the Hutt, if the stories the Ori had told her were true then it was probably something very stupid. Ge'tal looked at her and said, "Yes, why?"

"Well, I have a copilot now," she said, jerking her thumb towards Shuk'orok, "and all I need now is a mechanic. I can fix anything just fine but I can't be piloting and fixing whatever is broken at the same time so I need a mechanic which leads me to another question...are you willing to stay aboard and become my mechanic?"

"Exactly what are you going to be doing? So I can know what I am getting myself into before I agree." Ge'tal said, leaning back in his chair. Kestra shrugged and said,

"Sure, I am going to be Bounty Hunter hence why there were force cages in the hull and the ships name the _Ka'rta Tor_."

Ge'tal nods then says, "What the hell, I got nothing better to do so I'll become your mechanic."

Now that she got a better look of him, she saw that he wasn't any older than she was by probably a few years, and he had black hair, which is rather messy and spiked up and green eyes. Kestra held out her hand and said, "Then welcome aboard the Ka'rta Tor. You already met my new copilot, Shuk'orok who I had just hired as well and soon you'll meet my three droids who should be powering down for right now."

Ge'tal stood up and stretched saying, "Alright, is there anywhere I can sleep at?"

Kestra turns her seat around and said, "Sure, pick any room that isn't locked."

Ge'tal beings to leave but stops and says, "Thanks for helping me out back there at Nal Hutta."

"No problem but you better pay me back by keeping Ka'rta Tor in tip top shape otherwise I'm going to dump your sorry _shebs_ on Tatooine." Kestra said with a smirk at him. Ge'tal laughed at that and walked out of the cockpit, Kestra looked at Shuk'orok and said, "You should get some sleep as well, Shuk'orok. I'll take care of everything here."

Shuk'orok growled. "I'll be fine! Go on, get some sleep."

Shuk'orok stood up and walked out of the cockpit and as soon his footsteps could no longer be heard, Kestra sighs and pats Jax, saying, "What a day this has been, Jax ol' boy."

She stands up and stretches, Jax stands up as well and stretches, yawning hugely, "No kidding, let's go to sleep we both need it after the day we had." Kestra walks out of the cockpit and heads towards her cabin, she could hear her two newest additions moving around somewhere on the ship but felt that they would need sometime alone to get used to their new life so she would leave them be for now. So for right now she was going to get some much needed sleep and the alarm would alert her when the ship was about to leave hyperspace.


	2. Chapter 2

**Five years later.**

Kestra sat in the middle of her force cage, watching the slavers walk around the hull of their smelly ship, it's been three days since she had been captured and she was being taken to Nar Shaddaa. Her armor had been taken as soon as she was captured then she forced into her new 'clothes', she now wears the outfit of a slave girl which consists of a black bikini top with a matching belt and skirt with two sides slits which expose the entire her leg, up to her hip. The top, belt and skirt are decorated with silver coins and beads. She wore a black choker collar decorated with silver coins and beads. The collar had a loop extension where a chain could be attached. She also had black strapped sandals. Also her hands were shackled behind her back. The slaving collar that attacked by a chain to the floor and the chain wasn't very long so she had to keep her head bowed in a submissive gesture which made her clench her back teeth in anger but the slavers couldn't see her expression because of her hair, which was not braided as she usually had and was free and covered her face with a black curtain.

"So how's our sweet little captive doing?" said a voice, she knew who it belonged it. Crispin Ryan was a very well-known and despised slaver, and he had always wanted to get his hands on a Mandolarian for a very long time because apparently his wife or girlfriend ran off with a Mandolarian…it wasn't her fault that the woman had good taste in men. Kestra turned her head slightly so that she can fix Crispin with a glare.

"Now, now girlie. Don't be angry at me because it's not my fault that my woman ran off with one of your brethren."

Kestra didn't respond to the mocking tone in his voice, instead she huffed and rolled her eyes before she looked back at him. Crispin racked a slow and lecherous stare over her body and smiled lasciviously which Kestra ignored at well, she was used to that also, that was why she wore her armor at all times. She had left behind the skinny and bony girl that she was when she had left Mandalore, Kestra was considered especially attractive by male standards and had a slender yet toned build but she already knew all this because her Mando'ade mechanic, Ge'tal Gra'tua, kept flirting and trying to sleep with her.

"You will have us set for life once we sell you to a Hutt on Nar Shaddaa, girlie." Crispin continued on, not at least afraid or imitated by her cold stare which he was either di'kutla or or'dinii and she willing to bet on both. Kestra sighs and said, "You do realize just how long Mandalorians stay in captivity, right?"

Crispin snorted and crossed his meaty arms over his chest and said, "Yeah, only for a few days but we're gonna make sure that you stay, girlie."

Kestra rolled her eyes but didn't bother to reply. That was what the last slaver said before she snapped his neck with the Force but she wasn't even going to waste it on, in fact she needed to go Nar Shaddaa anyways since her bounty was there. And from what she had heard from the other slavers, Jabba the Hutt had been wanting a new slave girl after the last one died so they were taking her to him but what they didn't know was that Jabba was not going to be happy at all with his new 'pet' Jabba tolerated her because she was pretty and that was one of the main reasons why she wasn't too worried about. Crispin had left because they were going out of hyperspace and he needed to fly the ship down to one Jabba's private landing pads. So Kestra turned her head back down and began to think back how she was captured.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kestra was walking down a dark alley way with her personalized BlasTech LL-30 blaster pistols out and held up at shoulder height. Her force senses were telling her that her bounty was just in front of her, in a dumpster. Kestra scowled in distaste on his choice of hiding place but before she can capture him there was a flash of bright light and before she could have done anything she was shocked from behind by something and had collapsed, twitching and she saw Crispin and his ugly crew of slavers stand over her.

"Just like he said she would be at." Crispin said, with a smirk.

"Yeah but are you sure, boss? She went down pretty easy." Said one of his goons. Crispin sneered at him and said, "The staff has an electricity setting that would have killed a normal human but as you can see she's still breathing so she's the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter that he told us about."

Kestra knew that she had been betrayed and she promised that when she finds that aruetycate chakaar she was going to kriffing kill him. And that was the last thing she thought before she blacked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kestra sighs and shifts, trying to get more comfortable but being that she was stuck in a kneeling position and that chain was short she really couldn't move as much.

She felt a hard jolt as it as it landed which jerked hard on her chain, choking her and caused her to cough.

 _I am so going to enjoy killing you, Crispin_.

As the ramp went down her force cage turned off, one of his men walked over as a couple pointed their blasters towards her. He unclipped her chain and jerked it up, so that she has no choice but to stand. "Jabba is most eager to see his new 'pet', girlie." Crispin said with a smirk and this time Kestra couldn't help but to smirk and say,

"Oh, I agree as well, chakaar."

And then she was lead into Jabba's palace on Nar Shaddaa, a droid met them just outside Jabba's throne room. "Jabba is waiting for you." The droid said and Crispin strutted into the throne room when the doors opened.

"Oh, Great and Powerful Jabba! I had brought you the new pet that you had wanted!" Crispin said as he pushed Kestra forward. The throne room went so quiet that

Kestra could have sworn that could have heard a pin drop then Jabba drew himself to his full height and roared in Huttese, and luckily Huttese was another language that Kestra knew, "Is this some kind of joke!? Why is one of my Bounty Hunters before me in the outfit of a slave?!"

Crispin started to stutter, "B-b-but Great Jabba, we didn't know that she was held in such high regard by you."

Jabba scoffs and in Huttese said, "Ridiculous, she's always been at my side when I had my meetings and she was here when you came last time, Crispin."

Crispin turned to look at her closely and Kestra watched as his eyes widen as he realized his mistake and Kestra's smirk widened and she said, "You really shabla this time, di'kut."

"Now I want that collar off of her and bring back her equipment!" Jabba roared in Huttese. One of Crispin's men took off her collar while the other one handed her equipment back to her which she took and went to one of the side rooms to change. Kestra took off the slave outfit which she was going to keep, never knew when it might come in handy again. She changes back into her armor, she carried a pair of personalized BlasTech LL-30 blaster pistols—which she capped with silencers when necessary—and wore a set of scuffed nerf-hide quick-draw holsters to hold them at her waist, that she was known to wield with deadly accuracy as well as a EE-3 carbine blaster rifle which she kept slung across her back next to her jetpack. Her lightsaber was clipped in the front of her belt. After she was dressed, she walked out and stood next to Jabba. "Hey, Jabba, where's Crispin and his smelly friends?" Kestra asked, noticing that they were gone.

Jabba looked at her and said in Huttese, "I let Crispin go but had feed some of his men to my pets." So that explained the screaming, Jabba was someone you didn't want to make mad which why Kestra watched what she said to him...sometimes.

"I see..." Kestra said which she did…all over the kriffing place. Ugh, some of his 'pets' were very messy eaters. Jabba sighed and said in Huttese, "Your crew came here with the bounty that you were sent on which made me wonder why you weren't with them but now I know why."

"Yeah, well I wasn't too happy about getting shocked and I wanted to kill that chakaar for that." Kestra said, Jabba knew that Kestra had a 'don't get mad, get even' mindset. She hears a twirring sound coming from behind her; she turned and saw her pet, Jax standing behind her. He was canines with black fur all over his body.

Kestra kneeled down and patted Jax's head, saying "Sorry, cyar'ika but some bad men got the jump on me and put me in a nasty collar and even nastier outfit." Jax twrred again, Kestra stood up and turned to Jabba, saying, "Thanks for watching Jax for me."

Jabba waved his hand dismissively and said, "No thanks required but I must say that I am surprised that you didn't take him with you."

Kestra shrugged and said, "Stupid mistake that I will never make ever again for as long as I live."

"It's a shame that I don't have a new slave." Jabba asked wistfully in Huttese. Kestra sighed and said, "Yeah, I am awfully sorry about that." Of course, Kestra was being a little sarcastic when she said that but Jabba knew better that to take her on as a slave, this has been Kestra's third time being captured by slavers and when she had escaped she had gone after the slavers that had captured her and her 'master'.

"Is my crew still here?" Kestra asked moving to stand next to Jabba. Jabba rumbled then said in Huttese, "Yes, they are."

Kestra sighs and said, "Vor entye, Jabba. I have to be reunited with my crew or else HK-28 will kill them." Which wasn't a lie; HK-28 had no tolerance for any other meat-bags other than Kestra. Jabba leaned back in his couch and said in Huttese, "Go, I'll contact you when I have any more bounties for you."

Kestra bowed and turned and walked away, smiling a little she noticed Boba Fett standing at the corner of the throne room and nodded slightly in greeting which he returned. This was a bit surprising considering their rivalry. Kestra may be some new rookie bounty hunter that Jabba tolerates because she's pretty but she's well on her way to become a very good bounty hunter and it's because of that reason that there's some tension between the two bounty hunters and it also gives her a card to play on Jabba that even Fett can't use. Kestra may not like to use her looks to get what she wants but she isn't above using her looks when she does need them.

 _Being pretty certainly does have it perks though_.

Being that to Prince Xizor, she is his 'favorite' Bounty Hunter because of her looks, he was also enamored of her because she was pretty and of her skills but not that Kestra would even think of getting into a relationship with the Falleen Prince, she has a strict 'No dating your employers' policy that she always followed. Though it was sort of amusing and flattering that he sends her gifts and stuff in order to win her over. Luckily for Kestra, his pheromones don't work on her so she can resist his seduction techniques because she has a very strong mind. Kestra really needed to get back to the Ka'rta Tor; she wasn't worried about her though. She was worried about her freighter and had to make sure the ol' girl was still in one piece being that Kestra kind of put her through the wringer very time she goes after a bounty.

 _If she's missing anything I am going to hurt Ge'tal_.

Kestra was walking down a hallway in Jabba's palace and he had a lot of hallways, she was minding her own business until she heard a psst-ing sound coming from behind her and she turned and saw a Twi'lek female in very skimpy clothes that caused even Kestra to turn red standing in a doorway.

"Are you a Bounty hunter?" the Twi'lek asked, staring at her armor. Kestra blinked then said, "Yes?"

Twi'lek then smiled and asked, "Then do you know Cin Vhetin?"

Now that question was met with a blank stare that name sounded familiar but she couldn't remember who it was, "Who?"

"Cin Vhetin! He's a bounty hunter like you and he wears black armor with white strips!" the Twi'lek said, annoyed. A Mando'ade in _ne'tra beskar'gam_ named Cin Vhetin, uh? That name did sound familiar and then she remembered that she did know who it was and said snapping her fingers, "Ah! _Ci'ika_!" Kestra said, she was very bad at names and can only remember them if she saw their faces but Cin Vhetin was a special case because they were basically raised together. Kestra has what some would call a trust issue; it's hard to trust anyone when she had been betrayed twice. That and she sensed something in him that reached out to her, though if that was a perk for being a force-sensitive she wasn't sure at times because no one liked force-sensitives, not that Kestra cared, she had better things to do than to get people to become her _vod'ika_.

"Why do you want to know though?" Kestra asked now curious but she had a feeling that she knew why. And boy, she wasn't wrong at all nor was she disappointed either, the Twi'lek batted her eyelashes and blushed prettily which only made Kestra roll her eyes, saying "All the girls miss him and were wondering when he was coming back."

Kestra blinked then roared with laughter, she was still laughing as she walked away. Who would have known that ice-cold Cin Vhetin would have _cyar'tomade_? Oh, she was so going to enjoy teasing him with this little information and she was going to enjoy it a lot.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter. 3

Kestra had finally arrived to her freighter without any problems though some women did give her dirty looks because their husbands and/or boyfriends had checked her out as she walked passed them. This wasn't new to Kestra because, once again, she was used to it. Kestra walked up the ramp and immediately went to her room so that she can change and put her new 'outfit' in the hidden compartment under her bunk where she also kept her armor when she was not wearing it. Kestra keyed the password in the control panel and it slid open with a soft hiss, Kestra walked in and it closed softly behind her. Kestra pulled up her bunk and placed the slave outfit inside. Kestra walked out of her room and headed to the med center to see their onboard Doctor, Jann Hrathgar.

"Hey, Doc you got a minute?" Kestra asked, putting her left arm up on the doorframe and assuming a casual posture. Jann Hrathgar looked up from his desk and smiled at her, standing up and walking towards her. Jann was another stray that Kestra had found and saved, he was a man that had a slightly muscular and willowy frame. His hair is neck-length, straight and parted to the right side of his face, and has slight reddish tinged to the color. He wore the typical outfit of a Doctor which consists of a white lab coat, a red long sleeve shirt and black pants tucked into black boots. "Kestra! I am so happy and relieved that you're back!" Jann said giving her a one shoulder hug.

Kestra laughed and said, "Yeah, well Jabba didn't want me anymore." Jann laughs at that and says, "I find that hard to believe. Now if you're done making cracks I want you to strip to your undergarments so I can the amount of damage our 'friends' did to you."

Kestra shrugged, she walked in and locked the door behind her. Kestra walked to the cot and began to strip down until she was standing in her undergarments. She sat down on the cot, as Jann walked over to her started to check her for any signs of trauma. Kestra's tanned skin had a healthy and vibrant look to it, and she didn't look underfeed as he can still see her muscles. The only injury that can see was a collar shaped bruise around her throat but other than that she was fine.

"You're good, you can get dressed now." Jann said, stepping away from her. Kestra slid off the cot and quickly redressed. Then she left to go to the cockpit, when she got there she was nearly suffocated by an overly worried and panicked, Shuk'orok. And there was nothing like getting almost suffocated by your Wookiee Copilot. Ge'tal was siting the pilot seat with his hands laced behind his head and a smirk on his face. Shuk'orok finally set her down and growled. "Yeah, well how was I supposed to know that Crispin and his choir boys would know that I was there?"

Ge'tal raised an eyebrow and asked, "You think it's that same _chakaar_ that betrayed you?"

Kestra only nods her head and nudges Ge'tal out of the pilot seat with her foot, he stands up grumbling and she sits down and started pushing button, "Hey, Shuk'orok do I have any messages?"

Shuk'orok looked at her and moaned. "I got a message from Prince Xizor?"

Ge'tal leaned against the back of her chair and said, "Yep and he was really keen that you come to his palace on Coruscant ASAP."

Kestra frowned then shrugged, while it wasn't a surprise that he had requested her appearance at his palace but that he wants her there as soon as possible was certainly surprising. So she punched Coruscant's coordinates into the navicomputer and waited while the _Ka'rta Tor_ prepared to make the jump into hyperspace. When the light turned green, she pulled the lever back and watched the stars streaked by in white long lines.

The _Ka'rta Tor_ came out of hyperspace when they arrived at Coruscant or 'Imperial City' as Slimy Palps called it. She had a slight problem with Coruscant Air Control but they quickly changed their tune when they realized who she was and she had clearance to land because she had approval of both Prince Xizor _and_ Emperor Palpatine who also had hired her before though Kestra never wanted to work for Palps again. It wasn't a pleasant first meeting because he had kept staring at her.

She flew down into Coruscant, while some people saw awe and beauty all Kestra saw was evil and ugliness. Kestra knew that before the Clone Wars and maybe during it that Coruscant was probably very beautiful but now she could see none of that beauty.

A few minutes later, she landed on a landing platform at Xizor's palace and told her crew as the ramp lowered, "You stay here. Xizor doesn't like it when I bring strangers, especially _male_ strangers."

Ge'tal crossed his arms over his chest and asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yep, besides Xizor won't do anything to me so don't worry." Kestra said with a wink and a smirk then walked down that ramp. Of course, his guards were there to 'escort' her to his office…like she needed them being that she had been here numerous times but she'll humor them. They didn't even bother to try to take her guns; it was nice to know that some goons could be trainable and just after getting their _shebs_ handed to them on a silver platter the last time they tried to make her give up her weapons. Besides, she made it a habit not to shot her employers unless they betray her and Xizor was too attracted to her to do something as stupid as that. Her 'escort' and she arrived just outside of Xizor's sanctum before leaving; Kestra opened the door and walked in closing it behind her. Xizor rose from one of the couches and smiled at her.

"Kestra, my dear. How good is it to see you again." Xizor said while walking around the desk and towards her, he placed his hands on her shoulders and placed a chaste kiss on the corner of her lips. Sometimes he did kiss her fully on the lips but other times he'll kiss the corner of her lips, it depends on Kestra's mood and how well Xizor could read her moods. Xizor wrapped an arm around her shoulder and lead her to one of the couches; Kestra sat down at one end of the couch while he sat down the other side which was okay with her she wasn't really in the mood to have him sit close to her anyways.

"Can I interest you in some refreshments, my dear? Luranian Brandy? Green Champagne?" Xizor asked to which she shook her head to. "Let's just stick to why you called me here on such short notice, Your Highness."

Xizor smiled at that, Kestra always went straight to the point whenever she did business with him and not fall for his…advances…towards her that was probably one of reasons why he liked her so much. That and she were ruthless when it comes to chasing her bounties. She had always reminded him of an exotic hunting animal, she was as lethal as she was pretty.

"Of course, my dear, you see, someone had stolen a very rare, and valuable, jewel from me and I want it back and I want the man that stole it dead."

Kestra looked him and raised an eyebrow, but this wasn't a surprise to her Xizor uses her as his personal Bounty Hunter and an assassin. Though that didn't mean that she always did the jobs him asked her to do willingly and obediently, "Why can't Guri do this?"

Xizor favored her with his sexist smile, which grew wider at the blush that spread over her cheeks; it contrasted nicely with her skin color. "What if I told you that this man knows something about that night?" Xizor said looking at her; he can see her whole body tense at that.

"What do you mean?" Kestra asked through clenched teeth, her whole frame was tense and shaking with barely concealed rage and excitement. Rage for the people that had killed everyone that was important to her and excitement because she had finally found one of the people that were responsible for their deaths. Xizor leaned back casually and said, "You know exactly what I mean, my dear."

Kestra pursed her lips together, she sighs then said, "Fine, but I want my normal price for this...job."

"Consider it done." Xizor said, with a smile.

Kestra nods then asked, "Where is this man?"

"You're in luck, my dear. He's on Coruscant; I will have Guri send you his coordinates when you leave." Xizor said, still smiling at her and it sort of made her uncomfortable but she tried to ignore it. Finally he looked away, Kestra relaxed until he placed one of his hands on her thigh which immediately made her tense up and blush a deep crimson. Okay, so she had that strict 'No dating your employers' policy and was basically immune to men's advances to her as well as being immune to the Falleen's pheromones but that doesn't mean that she was completely immune, because let's face it, she's a woman and at the end of the day she has the same desires as any other woman out there in the galaxy.

Kestra cleared her throat and said, " _Vor entye_ , Your Highness. Now if you'll excuse me I have a job to go do."

Kestra stood up, though a little wobbly and walked towards the room feeling his eyes on her as she walked out of the room. Kestra relaxed only when the door closed behind her.

 _Finally I can start on my quest for vengeance…_

Kestra turns on her heel and heads towards the door, she heard her datapad chirp and she pulled it out and looked at it. Sure enough, the bounty's coordinates were on it now. Kestra noticed that he's been a very busy _hut'uun_ …and so has been his bank account. Kestra was going to have to transfer the data into her _beskar'gam_ 's gauntlets when she got back to the _Ka'rta Tor_.

Kestra walked past a group of men that was hanging around in the hangars, all they did was watch her as she walked by then went back to their conversation...they knew who she was and knew better than to mess with her. She walked up _Ka'rta Tor_ 's ramp and looked around the cargo hold; she sees her modified Basilisk war droid, known in Mando'a as the _Bes'uliik_ or "iron beast", the _Gra'tua Cuun_ next to the Lhosan Industries swoop racer that was also kept there.

 _I haven't used_ Gra'tua Cuun _in a while so I'll use him on this mission._

Kestra headed to her room, so that she can get dress into her _beskar'gam_ and download the data from her datapad to her gauntlets. The door slide shut behind her with a soft hiss. Then she sat down and plugged her datapad to her gauntlets and started the download as she walked out to prep _Gra'tua Cuun_ for the mission. _Gra'tua Cuun_ has been in the Verd family for a _very_ long time since Ne'tra Verd, as well as the _Ka'rta Tor_.

Kestra noticed that Ge'tal was in there now but she ignored him and went straight to her war droid. Kestra turned _Gra'tua Cuun_ on and climbed up on the seat and looked through the navicomputer.

–Hello, my friend, - the war droid said as soon as he was fully turned on. –Do we have another mission? –

"Yep, Xizor found one of the people that were responsible for the deaths of my family also he stolen a jewel from Xizor who wants the jewel back and that guy dead." Kestra said as she climbed off his back, his navicomputer was now clean just in case that they were arrested and the CSF went through his navicomputer to see where they had been to.

– What will happen when you complete your mission for vengeance? –

Kestra pauses then shrugs, saying, "I don't know."

Ge'tal walks over then and said, "You didn't think that far?"

Kestra turns to face him and said, "No, but when that time comes I will worry about it than."

Ge'tal opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it when he noticed that her flight suit was unzipped just enough to let him see her cleavage. Ge'tal knew her well enough that she didn't do it because of him; she always wore her flight suit like that because she didn't like sweating underneath so she wore it like that to help cool her down.

"Besides," Kestra said, turning away from him, "I don't know what the future brings."

Ge'tal crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I think it would be good."

Kestra gave him a funny look and said, "You do know that the future is never set in stone, right?"

"But you can always make your own future."

"That's true but it doesn't mean that something won't throw a wrench into my future." Kestra said with a wave of her hand dismissively, her comlink chirped letting her know that the download was done. Kestra leaves the cargo hold, leaving Ge'tal in his thoughts. When she arrived to her room, she finished putting on the rest of her armor.

 _I wonder how my buir would react if she was still alive?_

Kestra sighs and puts the helmet on; she waited for the HUD to upload. When it did she walked out of her room and back to the cargo hold. She notices that Ge'tal wasn't there anymore but that was okay, he didn't understand what drove her to do this.

"Ready, old friend?" Kestra asked _Gra'tua Cuun_ as she climbed up into his saddle.

-I am always ready to go anywhere with you, Kestra. –

"Good, now let's go." Kestra said as she guns his engines and blasted out of _Ka'rta Tor_ 's cargo hold. She quickly tapped the coordinates to the bounty's condo then put _Gra'tua Cuun_ into stealth mode. Kestra used the fact that the Basilisk war droid can be easily modified to her advantage and had modified _Gra'tua Cuun_ to fit her needs.

Kestra's thoughts drifted to her childhood friend, Venku Skirata. Kestra's eyes narrowed as she thought about that horrible night when her life changed, she didn't know if Fenn did anything or just let them get away with murder but it didn't matter to her if he did anything in the end because she knew the truth and there was evidence that Death Watch were behind the deaths of her _Ba'vodu_ and most of the Verd clan. Though why target just them is unknown and it was hard to tell who was Death Watch and who wasn't when they wore all the same armor. Kestra tightened her hold on the handles causing her gloves to make a creaking sound.

She struggled to gain control over her emotions, she didn't want to succumb to her anger though she did allow it to fuel her resolve. A Jedi would tell her that anger would lead to the Dark side but she was _Mando'ade_ , she didn't believe in that _osik_. Actually Jedi would most likely say that any emotion would lead to the dark side.

There is always emotion, to say there is no emotion is _di'kutla_. Kestra bowed her head and took a deep breath and let it out slowly, clearing her thoughts. Anger was good sometimes but not right now, she needed a clear mind until she saw that _chakaar_.

She finally arrived at her destination; she carefully landed _Gra'tua Cuun_ on her bounties' balcony and slide off _Gra'tua Cuun_ 's saddle and landed in a crouch. Then she started to walk like that until she was safely hidden in the shadow of a tacky looking statue…it was nice to see that everyone that lived on Coruscant had the same great taste in art (cue sarcasm). Kestra pulls on her datapad and waves it over the panel to the door, the light turned green on both ends and the door opened with a soft hiss. Kestra silently and stealthy walked inside, just like how she was taught by Ori. She barely reacted when she thought of Ori, now was not the time to be thinking of the dead. Kestra pulled out one of her BlasTech LL-30 blaster pistols; they both had silencers since she didn't want anyone calling CSF on her. The jewel was the first thing that she had found…since it was in plain view and on the table, that _di'kut_ should have put a sign over it that read, "Here I am! I am the Jewel that was stolen from Prince Xizor!" Kestra sighed softly and pocketed the jewel before silently going to her bounties' bedroom. He was in a deep sleep; he was in such a deep sleep that he didn't stir when she pressed her pistol to his forehead and pulled the trigger without any hesitation or mercy; he twitched once then went still. Kestra narrowed her eyes behind her helmet as she placed her pistol back in its holster then she turned and walked out and climbed back onto _Gra'tua Cuun_ and flew out of there, just as silently as she had arrived. As she flew back to the _Ka'rta Tor_ , she thought about her first kill.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" _Please don't kill me!" said the high pitched voice of a Rodian that she had taken on the bounty on. Kestra was fourteen and had just begun her bounty hunting career._

 _Kestra scoffed and leaned down towards the cowering Rodian, saying, "Let me give you the job description. Me, Bounty Hunter. You, Bounty. I hit. You bleed. I kill. You die."_

" _But you're just a kid!" the Rodian said, which caused Kestra to roll her eyes though he couldn't see it because she was wearing her helmet._

" _So? A lot of kids start early in some jobs especially if said_ kid _is an orphan." Kestra said, as she aimed her pistol at him. The Rodian looked up at her with fear in his large eyes and said, "You can't kill me, there's no way a kid like you can do it."_

 _Kestra raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh? Is that what you think?"_

 _And with that she pulled the trigger without any hesitation and watched without any pity or remorse as the Rodian's dead body slumped over. Kestra kneeled down next to him and pulled out a knife and cut off its head, since she needed to bring proof to Jabba the Hutt that she had killed him. She stood up while she put the head in a bag and tied it to her belt._

" _Don't underestimate me just because I am a_ kid _doesn't mean that I can't kill like an adult." And she turns and walks away, leaving the still warm body for the scavengers to feast on._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kestra knew that to some people, she is considered a child and was treated like a child but to the _Mando'ade_ she is considered an adult and was treated like an adult.

 _That was my very first kill; I had lost the last of my innocence with that kill._

She pulled into the _Ka'rta Tor_ 's cargo hold and powered down _Gra'tua Cuun_ , she slide off his saddle and walked to her room. Kestra had a ritual that she always follows after completing a bounty and that was to meditate.


	4. Chapter 4

Kestra was walking to Xizor's sanctum but this time she was by herself, there was no escort which meant that Xizor had ordered them to leave her alone…nothing screams like highly territorial male then ordering his men to leave his female Bounty Hunter alone.

 _Well, that was very boring bounty…I hate killing people while they're asleep but at least Xizor pays well for his bounties_.

Kestra finally arrived and the door opened as soon as she walked in front of it, she entered without any hesitation and stood in the center of the room. Xizor was standing in front of the bar, pouring himself some tea.

"I trust that your mission was a success?" Xizor asked as he brought the cup up to his lips and took a sip.

Kestra pulls out the jewel from a pouch that was her utility belt, next to her helmet clipped to her belt next to it, and places it on the table that was in front of her.

"Yes." Kestra said, taking a step back and crossing her arms over her chest.

Xizor walks over and picks up the jewel and said, "Very good, Kestra…you are worth every credit that I pay you."

Kestra bows slightly at him but not fully, her knees still hurt after kneeing in that cage for that length of time.

"You flatter me, Your Highness." Kestra said as she straightened, Xizor gently places the jewel in a box before coming to stand in front of her. Kestra had watched him walk towards her but didn't move. Xizor took her hands into his and held them up and said, "You are probably the best bounty hunter that I have ever hired."

Kestra didn't reply to that because in truth she was still green, unlike Boba Fett or Cin Vhetin, the only two bounty hunters that Kestra will ever work with.

"Now when will you retire from this messy business and work for me?"

"Sorry, but I still have things to do Your Highness." Kestra said smiling at him. Xizor released her with a sigh and said, "Then you're dismissed and I will contact you when I have another job for you."

Kestra bows once more and leaves the room, Kestra headed towards the hangar where her ship was docked at. She walked up the ramp and was greeted by T3-M7, who beeped a greeting at her.

Kestra leaned down and patted his head, saying "Hello to you too, T3."

T3 warbled at her and Kestra laughed and said, "Yeah, we're leaving Coruscant now."

Kestra straightened and head up to the cockpit, Shuk'orok was already waiting for her there. Kestra slipped into the pilot seat and said, "You've read my mind, Shuk'orok old friend."

Shuk'orok moaned. "Yeah, I know. I don't like being here any longer than I have either...this place makes me very uneasy."

Kestra started the engines and the Ka'rta Tor to life. Kestra grabbed the handles and lifted the ship off the platform and zoomed up into space, once in space Kestra set the coordinates to Tatoonie where she had received a message from an old friend telling her to come there ASAP because he had something to tell her. Kestra stood up and looked at her copilot, "I am going to take a nap, wake me when we get there."

Shuk'orok growled and Kestra turned and headed out of the cockpit, she went into her room and flopped onto the bed with her hands tucked behind her head. Kestra heard a twrr-ing and looked up to see her pet strill, Jax walking towards her.

"What's up, Jax? Have you been good?"

Jax twrred again and jumped on the bed next to her. Kestra sighed and closed her eyes so that she can sleep but a thought came to her and she sat up.

 _I have to call him..._

Kestra swung her legs off the cot and stood up in one fluid motion and walked over to where she keeps her comlink and picked it up, she keyed in a code and waited until he picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jaing. It's Kestra."

"Hey, Kes'ika! It's been a while since I had last heard your voice. How are you?"

"I've been good. I just completed a bounty and I am heading to Tatoonie."

Kestra heard someone on the other end of the line asking Jaing a question and him saying, "It's Kes'ika" and then some shuffling and a new voice saying, "Kes'ika! When are going to visit us finally?"

Kestra laughed when she heard Mereel's voice and said, "Did you wrestle Jaing's comlink from him again?"

"He always talks to you and I rarely ever do."

"I see...so how has everyone been?"

"Ah, they're doing well and they all miss you."

"That's good to hear," Kestra said, ignoring his not-so-subtle-hint that she should come back.

"When are you going to come back to us, Kes'ika?"

"I knew that you were going to ask that again," Kestra said with a sigh. "After I am done with my mission."

"You mean your vengeance?"

Kestra sighs heavily and said, "Yeah…after my vengeance is completed."

Mereel sighs as well and said, "Just be careful and stay alive….Venku would be very upset if he lost you without telling you anything." And he then handed the comlink back to Jaing, leaving Kestra dumbfounded at what he had just said. What did he mean by that? Venku always treated her like a little sister when they were growing up, an annoying younger sister. Kestra blinked away the tears that had welled up suddenly and wiped them away with the heel of her hand just as Jaing's voice came on.

"You okay, Kes'ika? Jaing asked gently, which caused Kestra's shoulders to quiver and she covered her eyes with her hand, despite the fact that he can't see the tears that are now falling freely.

"Yeah, I am fine." Kestra whispered, her voice breaking slightly.

"Listen, we all worry about you because you haven't contacted us at all since you had left us and we only learned about what you have been doing since that day after your two crew mates to contact us after you were taken by the Stalkers."

Kestra winced at that, the Stalkers were a bunch of force-sensitive lunatics that had tried to convert her to the dark side of the Force and that was an experience that she would rather want to forget about it.

"I know...I realized that after I was saved by Vhetin and Jay."

"But you had to realize it after you were captured and not before."

Kestra ran her hand through her hair and said, "I thought I was protecting you and myself from the chakaar that had killed my family by not contacting any one from my past but I couldn't even protect myself from the ones that wanted to convert me to the dark side."

Jaing sighs and said, "It's not your fault, Kes'ika. No one is blaming you for what you had to do in order to insure that everyone that you know stays alive but know this: all we want to do is help you in whatever way we can."

Kestra lets out a shaky breath and said, "I know. Vor entye, Jaing."

"Kih'parjai, Kes'ika," Jaing said. "I also cared about them... especially Xiamara."

"I bet you wished that had told her that before she was killed," Kestra said, smiling sadly.

"There are a lot of things that I wished I had said or done but now it's too late and now I have to live with regrets as well as the memories that I have of her."

Kestra blinks and shook head, both Mereel and Jaing are acting weird and it was sort of scaring her. She yawns and said, "I gotta go. I am getting sleepy."

"Okay, night Kes'ika."

"Night, I'll contact you again when I have time." Kestra said and closed the line. She stretched and rubbed the back of her head; she climbed back into her cot and lay on her back. Kestra closed her eyes and let out a breath as sleep came and took her into the realm of dreams.

Kestra didn't know how long she had been asleep but she was awakened by Shuk'orok's voice over the loud speaker. Kestra stood up and headed to the cockpit; she slipped into the pilot seat next to him and said, "Ready to see sand?"

Shuk'orok growled and Kestra laughed. "I have no idea why he is even here since he also hates sand."

Kestra grabbed the yolk just as the Ka'rta Tor came out of hyperspace; Kestra frowned when she saw the desert planet.

 _Tatoonie...a planet owned by the Hutts_.

Luckily for her, everyone on that planet knew her well enough to know that she is not a woman to mess with.

Kestra sighs and looks at her copilot, saying, "Prepare the landing equipment and make sure that anything of interest to the Jawas is out of sight."

Shuk'orok moaned in agreement. Kestra steers the freighter to Tatoonie, the old freighter shook when it entered the atmosphere of the planet.

"Oh, looks like the old girl needs to be checked again before we take off."

Kestra lands the freighter in one of the landing bays in Anchorhead. She turns off the engines and turns to her Wookiee copilot and said, "Watch the ship and make sure that no Jawas get near it."

Shuk'orok growled and Kestra stood and headed out of the ship, Fenn was waiting for her at the Anchorhead Cantina.

 _This better be good for him to call me here all the way from Coruscant_.

Kestra walks into the cantina and looks around, she sees a Mandalorian sitting at the bar and walks over to him and sits down on the empty bar stool next to him.

"Hello, Fenn Shysa. This better be good for you to come here to tell me yourself."

The Mand'alor looks at her and smiled charmingly at her, "Now I will never waste your time with just calling you all the way here just to have a nice friendly chat with you, my dear."

"You mean to just to flirt with me, right?" Kestra said, smirking at him.

Fenn laughed and patted her on the shoulder, saying "You got me there, my dear. Now to the reason why I called you here, there have been mysterious reports about a planet that is bordering the edge of known space."

Kestra just stared at him and shook her head and finally said, "So what makes you think that I about this planet?"

Fenn flashed Kestra a charming and flirtatious smile and said, "Because everyone knows that the Verds are excellent trackers."

"Thanks for that compliment, Fenn." Kestra said, smiling at him despite her words.

Fenn laughed again and said, "You know that I didn't mean it like that, Kes'ika."

"You mind if I choose who I want to come with me, Fenn?" Kestra asked as she stood up.

"You're not going to let your crew come with you?" Fenn asked.

"Oh, I am but I have two other bounty hunters in mind for this mission."

Fenn smiled and said, "Do whatever you think is best, Kes'ika."

"Thanks, Fenn. I'll see you later." Kestra said and walked out of the cantina. She was heading towards the landing bay where she had landed her old freighter when she noticed the smoke rising from that area. Panic settled in the pit of her gut and she ran towards the landing bay, she skidded to a stop when she got there and ducked behind some crated and peeked around them.

Dark Troopers? Why are they here? No one from Mandalore should know where I am expect for Fenn...unless someone had reprogrammed these buckets of bolts.

Which sounded way more likely than the former, since this was not the first time that someone had sent droids after her but she wasn't too happy since they had also damaged her ship...actually they sort of blow it up and now Kestra had to deal with them quick before anyone else came here. Kestra looked up and saw a nice size crate above the Dark Troopers and using the force, she brought it down on them crashing them instantly.

Kestra stood up and ran towards the ship and as she got near it, she heard someone cursing in Huttese. Kestra let out a sigh of relief when she saw her crew safe and lightly charred.

Ge'tal looked at her and said, "Why is that whenever you leave we get attacked?!"

Kestra shrugged and said, "Maybe they thought I was still aboard."

"Well, they should have checked before blowing up my poor baby!"

"Uh, it's my ship so it's my baby. You're just the mechanic that fixes her when she is damaged." Kestra said, looking at the damage of her freighter.

 _I hate Dark troopers_.

HK-28 walked up to her and said, "Statement: Kestra, your Basilisk war droid had survived that explosion."

"Well, that's good news."

Shuk'orok yowled. "The Kote Darasuum is still in the landing pad where I left it."

Hopefully no Jawas got any funny ideas while she was away but then again, she had modified it were it would shot a line fire at any one that wasn't loaded into its database.

Kestra looks at her mechanic and her three droids, "You three stay here and fix Ka'rta Tor while Shuk'orok and I go back to Coruscant."

"Are you sure?" Ge'tal asked.

Kestra shrugged and said, "Not really but I need Ka'rta Tor up and running when I need her the most."

Ge'tal rubbed his chin and said, "Fine but be careful."

Kestra spread her arms wide as though presenting herself to the whole galaxy and said, smirking, "I am always careful."

And with that she and Shuk'orok left the hangar and went to the second one that was close by. There, waiting for her was the Kote Darasuum a Teroch-type gunship that was also owned by Ne'tra Verd, just how many ships she owned no one knew.

Kestra lowered the ramp and ushered Shuk'orok in before following him inside, the ramp closing behind her. She slide into the pilot seat as Shuk'orok got into the copilot seat. She started the engines and the old gunship roared to life, Kestra grabbed the steering yoke and pulled up lifting the ship out of the hangar and up into Tatoonie's astrosphere and as her Wookiee copilot prepared the ship for the leap to hyperspace, Kestra sent out a series of coded beeps and bleeps. Then sat back as the ship leaped into hyperspace.


	5. Chapter 5

When Kestra walked into the Outlander Club on Vos Gesal Street in Coruscant's Uscru Entertainment District, she noticed two things. One was that it was very crowded and the second was that her friend was already there and he was alone.

"Where's Jay?" Kestra asked as she slides onto a stool next to him.

Cin Vhetin looked at her and said "She's on her way."

"Good because I am going to need the both of you and since you're partners I thought it was a little strange that she wasn't with you." Kestra said as she waved the bartender away with a casual wave of her hand, she never drank anything from here and she noticed that Vhetin wasn't drinking anything either.

Kestra sensed his partner Jay Kolta way before she even walked in and like Kestra's entranced, she caused many males to look at her. She wasn't surprised at their fascination; she was certainly attractive. She had long brown hair that she let fall loosely over her shoulders, dark eyes, and a quick smile. But she also had that hint of toughness beneath her beautiful exterior that was one of the reasons Kestra liked her.

"Hey, Kestra what's up?" Jay asked as she slipped onto the stool next to hers. Kestra was easy to spot even when she wore her beskar'gam; hers was of an older make…for some reason all the Verd clan wore the old style beskar'gam for some reason though they did update the tech to match the times.

"Oh, nothing much just the ceiling." Kestra said with a hint of a smile of her lips.

"I got to stop saying that to you." Jay said with a smile and a shake of her head.

Kestra laughs loudly which caused many to turn their heads to look at her.

"So why did you call us here, Kestra?" Vhetin asked.

Kestra cupped her chin in the palm of her hand and propped her elbow on the bar and said, "Straight to the point can't we just take a few minutes to catch up, Ci'ika?"

Vhetin just gave her a three beat stare which caused the young bounty huntress to hold her hands up and say, "Fine…killjoy." Though the last part was muttered but

Jay heard it and had to stifle a laugh.

"Something's is happening in the borders of the known space, a lot of Mando'ade have been either turning up dead or missing and Fenn Shysa, our beloved Mand'alor, wants to me to do something about it and I need your help because I got one of my funny feelings." Kestra said slanting Vhetin a look before looking away to watch the other patrons in the Club.

"Bad or good?" Vhetin asked they both knew that she was force-sensitive and felt things through the Force though that wasn't something that they go around telling people.

"Bad." Kestra said rubbing the back of her neck.

"And you still want to do this?" Jay asked.

"It's for Manda'yaim and Mand'alor…we do what we do for those two…oh and for our families." Kestra said crossing her arms, she has people that she cares about living there and she doesn't want anything to happen to them.

"When do we leave?" Vhetin asked.

"As soon as possible because I got a feeling that if we wait even longer something bad is going to happen."

"Well, well look what we have here boys. It's our favorite female Mandalorian." A leering voice said from behind the trio of bounty hunters. As one all three bounty hunters looked behind them and saw three Devaronians standing behind them.

"Oh, hello boys how are you this lovely and fine day?" Kestra said casually turning around and leaning back, propping both elbows on the bar behind her. Outwardly she was upbeat and carefree; inwardly she was anything but that.

 _I should have changed out of my beskar'gam when we got here…I totally forgot that I had enemies on Coruscant_.

Vhetin looks from her to their new "friends" and asked, "You know them?"

Kestra gives him one of her famous shrugs and said, "Sadly I do. They are some people that I sort blindsided a couple times on some bounties in the past and no, I don't remember their names."

"Don't pretend you don't remember our names!"

"But I am not pretending though." Kestra said.

"C'mon Cheklev it doesn't matter if she doesn't remember she's gonna die anyways." The second Devaronian said which made her recall their names. They were the Grahrk brothers! They were Cheklev, Dvakvar and Vilmarh Grahrk and she can say now she wasn't too happy about the fact that she was going to be killed by these three di'kutla chakaars.

"Amazing what being threatened can make you remember things that you forgot." Kestra muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Vhetin asked.

"I just remembered their names." Kestra said as she stood up and planted one hand on her hip while the other dangled casually at her side.

"Look, boys. I had been very kind in past not to vaporize your sorry hides but as of right now I am not in a very good mood and will have no problem vaporizing you three chuckle heads."

Vhetin raised an unseen eyebrow at that, normally Kestra wouldn't even think about vaporizing other bounty hunters no matter how annoying they may be so this mission clearly told him just how uneasy it had made the force-sensitive bounty hunter.

"Udesiir, Kestra." Vhetin said standing up and placing a restraining hand on the young bounty hunter's shoulder.

"Wayii! You think I'm going to kill them, Vhetin?" Kestra asked her tone low and cool which was his only warning sign before she attacked. It was too fast for the eye to follow, one minute she was standing there and the next she was gone, using those Teräs Käsi that was made even more deadlier in the hands of a Mando'ade bounty hunter. They were on the floor way before they even knew what hit them and Kestra was standing in the center of their writhing but still alive bodies.

"Consider this you're only warning." Kestra said before motioning to her two companions to follow her with a tilt of her head. The three bounty hunters walked out in silence but after a few minutes it was broken by Kestra sighing loudly.

"I can't believe I lost control in there."

Vhetin looked down at her than away and said, "That tells me just how uneasy this mission had made you."

"Uneasy? Well, that's putting it lightly!" Kestra said with a click of her tongue than she went silent, they didn't talk until they had reached the hangar where Kestra hand landed her ship.

Vhetin cocked his head when he saw the strange ship and said, "What happened to Ka'rta Tor?"

Kestra sort of tensed at that and then said, "It…uh…sort of got damaged."

"…Was it blown up?" Vhetin asked noticing her odd behavior.

Kestra bite her lip and said "…A little?..."

"So it was blown up." Vhetin said, smiling a little though neither of his companions could see it but Kestra clearly sensed his amusement because her fiery, short temper reared its familiar head.

"Ne'johaa! Besides the Kote Darasuum is just fast as the Ka'rta Tor, di'kut!"

Kestra was probably the only person that seemed to have no problem insulting any one that crossed her path no matter if that person will kill her or not; it was both a blessing and a curse because that mouth of hers gets her into numerous bad and sticky situations.

"Nice to see that you're back to normal, Kestra." Vhetin said.

Kestra blinked than blushed, looking away and scratching her cheek saying, "I don't know what you're talking about!"

Jay chuckled shaking her head at Kestra actions, many people have mistaken Vhetin and Kestra as siblings because of how they treated each other though there were times when he did treat Kestra as he did with everyone else but Kestra seems to have the knack for pushing all the right buttons.

"Where's the rest of your crew?" Vhetin asked when he saw Shuk'orok walking down the loading ramp and didn't see her other crew members.

"On Tatoonie fixing the Ka'rta Tor after it was introduced to Dark Troopers."

Vhetin looked at her and said, "Why did they attack you?"

"Someone probably reprogrammed them." Kestra said, dismissively which told him that she knew it was someone that had a grudge against the female bounty hunter.

Vhetin crossed his arms and asked, "Just how many people have you pissed off, Kestra?"

Kestra sputtered on mock indignation and outrage, clasping her hand over her heart and said, "I did nothing! I was just an innocent bystander!"

Vhetin just stared at her and Kestra started right back at him before sighing and saying, "Fine! I sort of blindsided them on bounties too."

"Just who haven't you blindsided?" Jay asked her now curious.

"Well, there was only one person on that list but now he isn't." Kestra said with innocent tone in her voice that causes Vhetin to cringe inside.

"Who is it?" Vhetin asked.

"Um…Boba Fett." Kestra said now looking embarrassed but not bothered by the fact that she had blindsided the best bounty hunter in the galaxy.

"Why is it that whenever I leave you that you always end up on someone's most hated list?" Vhetin asked not at least bothered by her reaction, he knew her well enough by now to know that Kestra just wasn't hardwired like how normal people should react when they had blindsided Boba Fett.

"I honestly don't know. It must be my charming personality that draws them to me." Kestra said batting her eyes innocently at Vhetin and smiling.

Vhetin only shook his head at her antics; she had something seriously wrong with her.

"Besides I have been watching how I step around him now." Kestra said walking over to her Wookiee copilot.

"And how has that been working out for you?" Vhetin asked her.

"Just fine besides some bounty hunters try not to kill other bounty hunters." Kestra said.

"And those guys from the club?"

"Underestimated me because I was a woman."

Kestra turns towards him and said, "And I almost forgot! You have a cyar'tomade of Twi'leks back at Jabba's palace on Nar Shaddaa."

Vhetin didn't respond but she knew that he had heard her. Kestra turned away and began talking to her Wookiee copilot.

Shuk'orok moaned. "Fenn sent me the coordinates to it."

Shuk'orok growled. "I didn't ask too much questions because no one tells me nothing. I just want to go home."

Shuk'orok growled and shook his head. "Hey, I didn't ask for your pity! Besides I've been trying to get you to go back home."

He moaned. "Yeah, yeah you owe me a Wookiee life debt because I saved your life but I keep telling you that it was nothing."

He barked. "No need to get snippy with me, pal."

Shuk'orok growled. "I also don't need a babysitter."

Shuk'orok just ruffled her hair and walked away. Kestra huffed and tried to fix her hair, saying "And stop that! I'm not a kid anymore!"

Kestra looks at her two companions and said, "It's best if we go in our own ships, just in case anything bad happens to one of us."

"Is it that dangerous?" Jay asked her.

"What I sense feels…I don't know, it's hard to explain but all we are doing is scouting it then we are to return to Mandalore to tell Fenn." Kestra said.

A twrring sound and something rubbing against his leg was his only warning that the Wookiee wasn't the only thing she had brought with her. Vhetin kneeled down and rubbed Jax's head and Jax's extremely long purplish black tongue snaked out and flicked against the underside of his helmet.

"You made yourself a new friend, Vhetin." Kestra said while slapping her gauntlet against her thigh plate, summoning her companion to her. Jax weaved through

Vhetin's legs one more time before trotting over to Kestra and rubbed himself vigorously against her legs.

"He's ready to hunt." Vhetin said as the creature yawned exposing its lethal and sharp teeth.

"Yeah, Jax also senses something about that planet and it's making him excited." Kestra said leaning down and rubbing the underside of Jax's jaw causing the creature to twrr and wag his whiplike tail.

"So he's going to help?" Jay asked as Jax walked over and rubbed against her legs, twrring deep in his throat.

"Yep, he is…I never leave home without him." Kestra said as Jax came back to her after receiving attention from Jay. Kestra nudged Jax back towards the ship and said,

"Let's get going."

Vhetin and Jay left after saying their good-byes though Vhetin just inclined his head in a silent good-bye. Kestra turned and walked up the ramp with Shuk'orok at her side and Jax behind her. Kestra slide into the pilot's seat as Shuk'orok sat in the copilot seat.

"Get ready to jump to hyperspace when we get out of Coruscant hyperspace, Shuk'orok." Kestra said as she started the engines and pulled the yoke down and lifted Kote Darasuum up from the landing pad and blasted into the astrosphere of Coruscant. Kestra pulled back the lever and watched as everything turned white.

They came out of hyperspace above the planet, it was completely dark…there was moon or sun near this planet so they would be relying on night vision when they land.

Kestra looked at her Wookiee copilot and said, "Prepare for landing…and whatever else is down there."

Kestra's bad feeling hadn't lesson up, in fact intensified as Kote Darasuum broke the astrosphere and landed on flat rocky surface. Kestra stood up and said, "You stay with the ship, Shuk'orok. I need you to be able to tell my family on Manda'yaim what happens here."

Shuk'orok moaned. "You can never be too sure when you met the widow maker, vod'ika."

Kestra turned and headed out of the cockpit with Jax at her side, she pushed the button and the ramp lowered. She walked down the ramp as Jax took off like a bat outta of Mustafar. Kestra put her index finger and thumb in her mouth and let out a loud shrill whistle that caused Jax to make a quick turn without losing his balance and run back to her. She saw Vhetin's and Jay's ships land and walked over to them just as Jax caught up with her, she was putting her helmet on when she caught up to them.

"Now you tell me what's wrong with this picture." Kestra said motioning around them with a wave of her hand.

Jay looks around them and frowns, "Its quiet."

"That's right and you don't need to have any force powers to tell you that something bad is going around her." Kestra said placing her hands on her hips. "In fact I can see abandoned ships all around us with my night vision."

"I can too," Cin said as he too looked around them.

"So now what?" Jay asked.

"We start looking for clues of course." Kestra said and raised her right gauntlet up and pushed the green button activating her comlink to the ship.

"Shuk'orok, close the ramp. I don't want whatever is behind this getting on board."

Shuk'orok roared and Kestra watched the ramp rise up and turns towards her companions.

"Let's go. It's better if we stay together until we learn exactly what had happened here." Kestra said.

"You think that whatever happened here was bad?" Jay asked.

"Oh, I don't think whatever happened here is bad I know whatever happened here is bad." Kestra said as she turned and throw her arm out, yelling out one command.

"Oya!" Kestra exclaimed and Jax bolted and his human companions quickly followed him. Kestra was the first to turn the corner and froze in her tracks, quickly pulled her carbine blaster rifle off her back.

"What's wrong, Kestra?" Jay asked.

"I just found the people who owned this ships…or what's left of them," Kestra whispered.

Jay looked down the alley between two houses and felt her bile rise, directly in front of them was a large pile of body parts, blood and gore completely covered the walls.

"What could have done this?" Jay asked.

Kestra seemed to have composed herself and walked towards the pile and crouched. She placed her hand on the hand of one of the corpses and closed her eyes, opening herself to the Force. Quickly the images came to her, their deaths were vivid in her mind and she jerked back with a gasp and fell right into Vhetin's arms.

"What happened?" Vhetin asked but when she didn't answer, he pulled her away and held her out at arm's length. Kestra was clenching her head and muttering to herself, shaking.

Jax twrred and rubbed up against Kestra's back, trying to sooth her of whatever she had seen.

After a while, Kestra calmed down and sucked in hair and let it out through her teeth and said, "What had killed them was something that I couldn't see."

Vhetin looked down at her, she was shaking slightly.

"None of the victims saw it either, it was too fast and too dark for them to see it." Kestra said straightening up and looking up at Vhetin and Jay.

"So what do we do know?" Jay asked.

Kestra stood up and said, "We have no choice but to go after whatever is behind this."

The only warning she got was the sound of claws scraping against rock, as well as a sibilant hissing sound and then she was attacked. She couldn't see the creature but she did hear its screeching sounds as smacked her hard enough for her to go flying ten meters and slammed into the wall that was across the street. Kestra slide down the wall as blood leaked from the gash on her cheek, she looked up into the face of the creature that had attacked her and felt her heart stop beating.

It was feline in appearance with glowing gold eyes; it has quills along the length of its spin and a long whip-like tail. Kestra learned that she had broken some of her ribs when she tried to sit up and felt great pain shot up from the right side.

Kestra spat out the blood that was in her mouth and said, "Osik…that felt like getting hit by a speeder going 100 mph."

Jay and Vhetin ran over towards her both had their weapons drawn and pointed towards the creature, Vhetin handed Kestra her rifle back which she took and slung it onto her back with her good arm.

"We have to go back to the ship...I can sense more of them coming and with just us three, we can't take them all."

"Alright, can you walk?"

"Yeah but I broke some of ribs." Kestra said wincing as Vhetin raised her right arm and wrapped it around his shoulders while he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Alright, I got you." Vhetin asked as he and Jay started to walk backwards, Kestra put her index and middle finger in her mouth and let out a much shriller and louder whistle and said, "Oya, Jax!"

Jax lunged at the creature and both creatures started to fight with teeth and claws. Jax was doing a lot of damage to the creature than it was doing to him and with a loud screech, it jumped up onto a rock and ran off, going back to whatever it came from.

Kestra let out a groan and said, "Let's go back to the Kote Darasuum, we'll be safer there."

Vhetin helped Kestra limp back to the Kote Darasuum and the ramp was lowering as soon as they came close to it and Shuk'orok ran out roaring.

"It's two broken ribs, nothing that a dip in the tank can't fix." Kestra said as Shuk'orok gently took her from Vhetin and picked her up, carrying her up the ramp. Jay and

Vhetin were right behind him and the ramp closed as soon as Jax was inside. Shuk'orok sat her down on the only bed in the medical bay. He bandaged her injuries before putting her in one of the tanks to heal, an oxygen mask was put over her mouth and nose as she slipped into unconsciousness thanks to the sedative.  
Shuk'orok ushered them out of the medical bay and closed the door behind them.

Jay looked at Vhetin and asked, "What do we do now?"

"We wait until she is done healing and wakes up. Then we will head back to Mandalore." Vhetin said.

Jax twrred and rubbed against Vhetin's leg, seeking comfort as his master healed from her injuries. Vhetin crouched down and rubbed the back of Jax's ears causing him to make a soft twrring sound as they waited for her to wake up.


	6. Chapter 6

Kestra's eyes fluttered open and she was nearly blinded by the bright white light directly above her head, she sat up and rubbed her watery eyes.

Haar'chak _! That really hurts!_

Kestra swung her legs over the edge of the bed and looked around; looks like Shuk'orok had taken her out when she had completely healed. She stood up and began to put her armor back on, she slide off the bed and walked out of the medical bay. She found her companions just outside the medical bay; she stops and says "You were waiting for me to wake up?"

Jay snaps her head towards her in surprise and said, "You're up!?"

"Yeah, nothing that a trip to the tank couldn't fix." Kestra said stretching, popping her bones along the length of her spine.

"So how do we deal with those creatures?" Vhetin asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"We have to go back to Mandalore, remember?" Kestra said as she walked to the cockpit.

"Will Mandalore be able to do anything?" Jay asked.

"Yeah…by sending the best of the best." Kestra said looking at her over her shoulder.

"So…how are we supposed to get back to our ships?" Vhetin asked.

"Well, that's very easy, Ci'ika…by turning on the lights along the hull on my ship at full blast and then I want you to haul ass to yours ships." Kestra said and looks at

Shuk'orok who had joined them in the hallway.

"Lower the ramp, Shuk'orok and turn on the lights, we got some nasty beasties to blind."

Shuk'orok growled. "It's okay, I'll be fine."

Shuk'orok moaned. "Really, I'll be fine; my guard is high so it won't catch me off guard again."

Shuk'orok still had his doubts but he relented and went to lower the ramp. Kestra started to walk down the ramp and looked at her companions, saying "Ready?"

Vhetin shook his head and said, "No but we have to do this."

Kestra looks at the other two and asked, "Yep, so when I yell 'no' you two

"Yes, my blasters may not be able to kill them but I can at least provide cover fire." Jay said.

Kestra just shrugged and walked down the ramp once she was a good distance away from the Kote Darasuum, she gave a sharp whistle and the flood lights turned on.

She would hear screeching and the sound of running.

 _Let's see if this works…_.

"Now! Get those shebs moving, vode!"

Cin and Jay hauled ass towards their respected ships as Kestra provided cover fire for them as she started to back into her own ship.

She finally got back into her ship and slapped the button to close the ramp before she booked it to the cockpit, yelling, "Start those engines and set coordinates for Mandalore, Shuk'orok!"

The Wookiee yowled in response and she felt the ship lifting off the ground, when she finally made it to the cockpit she saw that they were breaking astrosphere and she also saw a small ship coming towards them and instantly recognized the markings…it was Ge'tal's so she tapped some buttons on her gauntlet to grant access to him park above Kote Darasuum, she had modified this ship a lot, and just as Ge'tal dock she saw the Kote Darasuum entering hyperspace.

Mandalore

Kestra was very nervous, she hadn't been to Manda'yaim she had left it so she was a bundle of nerves. The console beeped, letting her know that she was coming out of hyperspace. The Kote Darasuum came out of hyperspace and she caught her first glimpse of the planet that she had left behind when she was thirteen years old.

Kestra tapped the blue intercom button and said, "Keldabe Ground Control, this is Kote Darasuum, requesting clearance to land."

"Pare sol, Kote Darasuum," a raspy female said over the intercom. "One sec... all right, Kote Darasuum, you have clearance to land. My, isn't it our famous but wayward Mando'ad, Kestra Verd. What happened to the Ka'rta Tor?"

"Well, I didn't know that anyone knew my name here." Kestra said with a laugh. "And it had a run in with Dark Troopers…my crew had towed it to the Verd hangar already to a little TLC."

"Everyone knows your name, especially from the Mando'ade that you team up with on occasion." the GC officer said.

"As longs as its good things then." Kestra said, cracking a smile.

"Oh, some of them are." the GC officer said.

"I'm taking her down, GC." Kestra said laughing.

"Affirmative, Kote Darasuum," the GC officer said, instantly back to business. "Welcome back."

"Thanks, it's good to be back." Kestra said, she never realized that the Kote Darasuum and Ka'rta Tor was that well known. Kote Darasuum was rarely used by Kestra; in fact the only time she uses it is when she is having the Ka'rta Tor fixed.

 _The Kote Darasuum is a good ship but she has a lot of problems…I might have to give her an early retirement_.

They swooped low over the city and headed for a medium-sized air control tower near what was obviously a spaceport, near the edge of the city. Ships of every kind were heading in and out of the area, clogging the airways nearby; there was even a huge boxy capital ship hovering a few thousand feet above the tower.

Ge'tal sighs and said, smiling "It's good to be back at Manda'yaim."

She set the ship down in an empty docking area, bay 320, and killed the power to the ship's drives.

"Too bad it isn't on better circumstances." Kestra said as she got out of the pilot seat.

"Hey, at least it made you come here, vod'ika." Ge'tal said smiling charmingly as her and Kestra ignored him...as always.

Vhetin and Jay had gone ahead while she checked on the Ka'rta Tor, it was coming along nicely and hopefully she would be able to use it before she had to leave again.

"Let's go to the Oyu'baat. Hopefully Vhetin had gathered all the vode there."

They left the docking bay and emerged into the larger spaceport. Though Kestra was able to pick out a few different species - a Twi'lek here, a Nikto there, even a bulky Gamorrean – the majority of the patrons were humans, dressed in everything from simple farming robes to full-body combat armor. Of those who wore armor, Kestra saw a bewildering array of colors and color schemes. She saw both polished and dull variations of reds, blues, silvers, golds, and hundreds of other colors.

 _They are all my_ vod'ika.

Kestra and her small group ignored the shops and luckily for them there wasn't very much traffic out so they had reached their destination on record time. Kestra headed to a fairly well-kept collection of interconnected buildings with rounded tops. A long rectangular window stretched along one side of the center building and a sign sported the same angular Mandalorian runes she'd seen all over the city and beneath the runes in Basic was: UNIVERSE TAPCAF. NO STRILLS INSIDE – BARTER ACCEPTED.

Jax warbled and looked up at Kestra, he probably thought she was going to leave in outside again but she shook her head and said, "I talked to Aramis and he said that you can go inside as long as you behave yourself, Jax."

Kestra opened the door and walked inside, the cantina/motel was as busy as ever. She could hear the talking, laughing, even arguing from outside across the street; there was some kind of loud music playing over the speakers. She saw the barkeep, was cleaning a dinged and dented metal drink mug. He was wearing a long cook's apron, smeared with gravy and other stains that looked mysteriously like blood; Kestra hoped that it was animal blood. He had long gray hair that hung to his shoulders and a thin, serious face.

Kestra smiled and said, "Aramis! You handsome Mando'ad you! How have you been?!"

The bartender looked up, staring around at his surroundings. When his gaze fell on Kestra, he relaxed and nodded in greeting.

Kestra fought her way to the bar. Once there, she put her hands on the countertop and said, "You're as handsome as ever! You look like you haven't aged a day!"

The bartender set down the mug and said, "Flattery won't get you anywhere, Kes'ika. Not when you didn't even tell me good-bye."

"Aw, c'mon Aramis. A lot of things happened that day and I had to get going while the going was good," Kestra said leaning against the bar. "Besides, I came back so you should cut me some slack."

Kestra flashed him the smile that had first warmed the barkeeper up to her. Aramis and her Ba'vodu knew each other and Tra'kad Verd had taken Kestra to visit Aramis when she was four years old so Aramis was like her second Ba'vodu.

Aramis grunted and said, "Fine but once whatever caused you to come back is done I will give you an hour scolding."

"Le sigh…fine, I can deal with that…you drive a hard bargain, Aramis." Kestra teased smiling.

"As much as I like talking to such an attractive and younger woman, your audience is here waiting for you." Aramis said, jerking his thumb to the back of the bar.

"Yeah, can you just pretend I didn't come here and I'll just go my merry way?"

"Get your shebs over the, ad'ika." came the response that she was dreading.

"I thought you were going to say that, Aramis…what did I ever do to you? In fact don't answer that, I know what you're going to say." Kestra said jokingly. She turned and headed back to where her small group was and motioned for them to follow her. She saw Vhetin first before she saw the others.

"Vhetin!"

Vhetin turned and saw Kestra waving at him; she quickly made her way to them and said, "Fine place to pick for this meeting, Vhetin!"

"Hey, you wanted a place where no Imperials went into." Vhetin said.

"They have to be a compete dinii to want to come in here." Kestra said and she saw Tarron Matele and throws her arms around him, laughing.

"It's nice to see you, Tarron!" Kestra said laughing.

"I was wondering when you'll come back to us." Tarron said smiling.

"Yeah, well I was awfully busy with my bounties, you know." Kestra said chuckling. She heard a grumble and looked down; Mird was looking up at her and wagging his tail. Kestra crouched down and said, "Hey, Mird it's great to see you again!"

Kestra rubbed his head and Jax came up and rubbed his head against Mird's neck, twrring. "Looks like Jax missed you as well, Mird'ika." Kestra said laughing as Mird licked her cheek.

Kestra stood up and finally noticed Corey Black standing next to Vhetin and said as she pulled him into a hug, "Hello, vod'ika you look as handsome as ever!"

Kestra knew Corey since she was little; she met him when she was spending the night at Kyrimorut when she was four and she had taken a shine to the older man.

Corey wore a plain brown travelling cloak over his beskar'gam, which sort of reminded her of a Jedi cloak.

"It's nice to see you, ad'ika." Corey said as she released him.

"Just wait until you hear what I have say then say that, vod'ika." Kestra laughs. Kal stood up and walked over to her and pulled her into hug. Over his shoulder she noticed that Venku was sitting down and she waved at him.

"Oh, ad'ika…we missed you so much. We thought you were dead until word from a Mando'ad that had met you came back and told us that you were alive and making a living as a bounty hunter." Kal said as he rocked her back and forth, Kestra didn't know how long he was going to hold her.

"I missed you too, Kal'buir," Kestra said pulling away and smiling.

Kal laughed and hugged her again, saying, "Shab, you no longer look like the girl that left us." He released her so that she could greet everyone else.

"I would hope that I would continue to age while I was away, Kal'buir," Kestra asked after finishing her rounds of giving the rest of her family hugs. They might not be related to her by blood but she still considered them as her family.

"I wasn't hoping otherwise…you are too pretty now to leave my side now," Kal said. "So you have a boyfriend?"

Kestra sputters and said, "No! And it's hard to have a boyfriend when you are a bounty hunter…that tends to scare some guys away, Kal'buir."

"Well some aruetiise aren't known for their bravery," Walon said with a smirk. Kestra smirks and said, "Yeah…anyways, I have something to tell you and I get a feeling that Fenn is going to want this done as soon as possible before the Empire hears about it."

"What is it?" Gotab asked.

"You might wanna sit down and order some more ne'tra gal for this because it's going to take a while." Kestra warned and began to tell them what they had learned.

When she was finally finished, everyone sat in stun silence but she can sense what they were feeling: shock, worry and anger.

"So this creatures are sensitive to light, ad'ika?" Kal asked.

"Yeah." Kestra said nodding her head. "The planet they live on is totally dark…and from I can see I saw many Clone Wars-era ships so people have been landing there but no one has been able to report it that I know of…and Mand'alor just told me this. And he's afraid that if the Empire hears of this planet then they would use those creatures in war…make an artificial storm cloud and instant slaughter."

Shuk'orok growls. "No, he doesn't know either otherwise he would have told me since he sent me on that suicide mission."

Kestra went to sit down next to Walon and Mird jumped onto the couch next to her and placed his head on her lap and drooled all over her lap.

"Thanks for that Mird, you drool heap." Kestra said as she took the towel that Walon had and started to wipe off the drool.

"So what do we do?" Corey asked.

Kestra leaned back and crossed her arms saying, "I need to tell Fenn what I just told you so until I do stay in touch."

Kestra stood up and left the bar with Shuk'orok and Ge'tal behind her outside she turns and says, "You two stay here. I know where Fenn is and it's better if I go solo."

"Be careful, okay?" Ge'tal said.

Kestra smiled and said, "I'm always careful."

She turns and heads down the street, Ge'tal watched her leave before turning and saying, "Let's go back inside, Shuk'orok."

They went back inside and went to where they had left her family. Vhetin was the first to notice them.

"Why are you two here?" Vhetin asked which caused everyone else to look at them.

"She went to tell him by herself."

Tarron sat back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, saying "Well, that was certainly fun to hear. Is there anyone else out there that wants us dead or is trying to kill us?"

Jaing laughs and said, "Well, I can certainly name a few people who want to kill me."

Everyone laughs at that, Mereel leans over and said, "And some of them are women."

Jaing nudges Mereel with his elbow and said, "This from the guy with some husbands after his shebs?"

Everyone laughed even harder at that. Gotab leaned over forward banging his fist on the table, saying "Osi'kyr! Didn't I warn you about that woman?"

Mereel shrugged and said, "What can I say? I am extremely popular with the ladies."


	7. Chapter 7

p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra was holding her blue bladed lightsaber in a hold that was vertical with both palms, either on the right of her body that easily told him that she was a practitioner of Form IV: Ataru. Vhetin was in front of her, his lightsaber pike was activated. Both combatants were standing in the center of a handmade fighting ring, one that Vhetin had sparred with Kasen what seemed like centuries ago. Last night while everyone was asleep, Vhetin has visited the graves of the six women that had trained him in Teräs Käsi though mainly it was Kasen that had training him. It was easy to find which grave belonged to whom because their graves bore their names. It was revealed last night that Kestra had no idea who brought back the bodies of the trainers or who had buried them in the private graveyard./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"It was Gotab's idea that they should spar in order to keep their lightsaber combat on peak condition, though Vhetin had a sneaky suspicion that he really wanted to see how Kestra fought against someone with a lightsaber since Kestra was trained to use one but she rarely carries it with her. Kestra had chosen to use Ataru since she could use its form to the fullest. From what Gotab had told him about the fourth form of lightsaber combat. It was an aggressive style; Form IV was fast-paced and effective against single opponents, though weaker in prolonged combat and confined spaces. Ataru was characterized by Force-assisted acrobatics, both for attack and defense, and fast, powerful strikes. And was the favored style of the Faberian Jedi sect known as the Prophets./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"The only warning he got was of Kestra bending her knees and then she was on him like Hawk-bat on a granite slug with acrobatic moves that would have made even a Terrelian jango jumper jealous. Vhetin answered her aggressive style with his own aggressive style. He utilizes his own very aggressive combat form that is a mix of Form II: Makashi and Form V: Djem So, as well as a smattering of converted Teräs Käsi moves. He had to recreate his own form due to his utilization of the lightsaber pike, which was not the conventional Jedi or Sith weapon./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra fought in a fury of acrobatic moves but Vhetin managed to block every blow. After what seemed like hours, Gotab blew the whistle and both combatants pulled away from each other, not even breathing heavily./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Gotab and the others were leaning against the fence watching the fight Jax was lying at Corey's feet, his tail thumping every once few minutes. The grounds around the Verd emvheh'yaim/em was used as a docking bay for the small group's ships, for those that don't have permanent homes or is staying somewhere else but are too far away; they had brought their ships here last night since they had all decided to stay here./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""emKes'ika/em, you're not using the Force...why?" Gotab asked./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra gave him an odd look and said, "Because it's not fair for our opponent that isn't a force-sensitive."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Her words reminded him of what Kasen had told him when she had first started training him. And even know he can still hear her voice as clear as it was when she was still alive./p  
div style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKasen stood over Vhetin, she wore a black ribbed tank top, front-zip black trousers which sport a non-covered zipper at the front and strapped pockets at the back and boots that can spike out blades at the heel, and he had seen those deadly spikes in action when she sparred alone./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em"Did I break your jaw, Vhetin?" Kasen asked her tone cold and emotionless; her face was just as cold and emotionless. It was hard to picture this woman capable of any other emotion then her cold anger but he had seen her with the two young boys that he had never been introduced to yet./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emVhetin sat up and wiped the blood that was sliding down his chin from a cut that was inside his mouth and said, "You're using the Force so how can I ever beat you, master?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKasen smiled now, though a little, and said, "Oh? Is that what you think? I'll let you in a little secret, Vhetin: I am not using the Force in any of my sparring sessions with you nor when I am in actual combat."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emVhetin looked at her and asked, "Why?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em"Because it's not fair for our opponent that isn't a force-sensitive." Kasen said as she held out a hand to help him up, Vhetin stared at it for a few minutes before clasping her forearm and allowed her to help him stand up./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em"All Verds are the same as me…I mean, we all share the same beliefs and we ingrain those beliefs of fair combat into our students and the ones that are Force-sensitive." Kasen said showing a rare side of her personality. Kasen was probably the tightest lip of all the trainers; she rarely ever does talk to anyone about the beliefs of her people. According to what Galene had told him since she was telling him more things that she normally will tell anyone is a sign that Kasen's badly damaged mental state was slowly beginning to heal and all thanks to the children that she has been around as well as caring of and thanks to Vhetin who was the, and only, first male outsider that Kasen had offered to train before./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emVhetin cocked his head and said, "Like what you're doing with me?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKasen actually chuckled at that and ruffled his hair, saying "Yes but it's up to you if you want to follow my teachings or not, Vhetin."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKasen got into a Teräs Käsi fighting stance and said, "Ready for round 2, Vhetin?"/em/p  
div style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"  
p class="MsoNormal"em /em/p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Hey, Vhetin! You didn't fall asleep with your eyes open and on your feet, did you?" Kestra asked waving her hand over his eyes./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Sorry I was just thinking." Vhetin said, shacking himself out of the memory./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Well, don't think too hard or else your brain will fry since it's not used to all that activity." Kestra said jokingly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Vhetin lightly chuckled at that and brought his lightsaber pike up and said, "Ready for round 2, Kestra?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra lunged at him and bought her lightsaber down in a slash that would have cleaved him in two if he hadn't blocked it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"They had continued to spar until dusk and Kal had come out to yell at them to come inside or else he was going to sic Walon on them. They grudging stopped their sparring and headed to the emvheh'yaim/em, eager to eat, bathe and sleep so that they would be able to fight at the top of their abilities against those creatures./p 


	8. Chapter 8

p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra was holding her blue bladed lightsaber in a hold that was vertical with both palms, either on the right of her body that easily told him that she was a practitioner of Form IV: Ataru. Vhetin was in front of her, his lightsaber pike was activated. Both combatants were standing in the center of a handmade fighting ring, one that Vhetin had sparred with Kasen what seemed like centuries ago. Last night while everyone was asleep, Vhetin has visited the graves of the six women that had trained him in Teräs Käsi though mainly it was Kasen that had training him. It was easy to find which grave belonged to whom because their graves bore their names. It was revealed last night that Kestra had no idea who brought back the bodies of the trainers or who had buried them in the private graveyard./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"It was Gotab's idea that they should spar in order to keep their lightsaber combat on peak condition, though Vhetin had a sneaky suspicion that he really wanted to see how Kestra fought against someone with a lightsaber since Kestra was trained to use one but she rarely carries it with her. Kestra had chosen to use Ataru since she could use its form to the fullest. From what Gotab had told him about the fourth form of lightsaber combat. It was an aggressive style; Form IV was fast-paced and effective against single opponents, though weaker in prolonged combat and confined spaces. Ataru was characterized by Force-assisted acrobatics, both for attack and defense, and fast, powerful strikes. And was the favored style of the Faberian Jedi sect known as the Prophets./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"The only warning he got was of Kestra bending her knees and then she was on him like Hawk-bat on a granite slug with acrobatic moves that would have made even a Terrelian jango jumper jealous. Vhetin answered her aggressive style with his own aggressive style. He utilizes his own very aggressive combat form that is a mix of Form II: Makashi and Form V: Djem So, as well as a smattering of converted Teräs Käsi moves. He had to recreate his own form due to his utilization of the lightsaber pike, which was not the conventional Jedi or Sith weapon./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra fought in a fury of acrobatic moves but Vhetin managed to block every blow. After what seemed like hours, Gotab blew the whistle and both combatants pulled away from each other, not even breathing heavily./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Gotab and the others were leaning against the fence watching the fight Jax was lying at Corey's feet, his tail thumping every once few minutes. The grounds around the Verd emvheh'yaim/em was used as a docking bay for the small group's ships, for those that don't have permanent homes or is staying somewhere else but are too far away; they had brought their ships here last night since they had all decided to stay here./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""emKes'ika/em, you're not using the Force...why?" Gotab asked./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra gave him an odd look and said, "Because it's not fair for our opponent that isn't a force-sensitive."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Her words reminded him of what Kasen had told him when she had first started training him. And even know he can still hear her voice as clear as it was when she was still alive./p  
div style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKasen stood over Vhetin, she wore a black ribbed tank top, front-zip black trousers which sport a non-covered zipper at the front and strapped pockets at the back and boots that can spike out blades at the heel, and he had seen those deadly spikes in action when she sparred alone./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em"Did I break your jaw, Vhetin?" Kasen asked her tone cold and emotionless; her face was just as cold and emotionless. It was hard to picture this woman capable of any other emotion then her cold anger but he had seen her with the two young boys that he had never been introduced to yet./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emVhetin sat up and wiped the blood that was sliding down his chin from a cut that was inside his mouth and said, "You're using the Force so how can I ever beat you, master?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKasen smiled now, though a little, and said, "Oh? Is that what you think? I'll let you in a little secret, Vhetin: I am not using the Force in any of my sparring sessions with you nor when I am in actual combat."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emVhetin looked at her and asked, "Why?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em"Because it's not fair for our opponent that isn't a force-sensitive." Kasen said as she held out a hand to help him up, Vhetin stared at it for a few minutes before clasping her forearm and allowed her to help him stand up./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em"All Verds are the same as me…I mean, we all share the same beliefs and we ingrain those beliefs of fair combat into our students and the ones that are Force-sensitive." Kasen said showing a rare side of her personality. Kasen was probably the tightest lip of all the trainers; she rarely ever does talk to anyone about the beliefs of her people. According to what Galene had told him since she was telling him more things that she normally will tell anyone is a sign that Kasen's badly damaged mental state was slowly beginning to heal and all thanks to the children that she has been around as well as caring of and thanks to Vhetin who was the, and only, first male outsider that Kasen had offered to train before./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emVhetin cocked his head and said, "Like what you're doing with me?"/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKasen actually chuckled at that and ruffled his hair, saying "Yes but it's up to you if you want to follow my teachings or not, Vhetin."/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKasen got into a Teräs Käsi fighting stance and said, "Ready for round 2, Vhetin?"/em/p  
div style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"  
p class="MsoNormal"em /em/p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Hey, Vhetin! You didn't fall asleep with your eyes open and on your feet, did you?" Kestra asked waving her hand over his eyes./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Sorry I was just thinking." Vhetin said, shacking himself out of the memory./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Well, don't think too hard or else your brain will fry since it's not used to all that activity." Kestra said jokingly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Vhetin lightly chuckled at that and brought his lightsaber pike up and said, "Ready for round 2, Kestra?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra lunged at him and bought her lightsaber down in a slash that would have cleaved him in two if he hadn't blocked it./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"They had continued to spar until dusk and Kal had come out to yell at them to come inside or else he was going to sic Walon on them. They grudging stopped their sparring and headed to the emvheh'yaim/em, eager to eat, bathe and sleep so that they would be able to fight at the top of their abilities against those creatures./p 


	9. Chapter 9

p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emBlack Planet./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKa'rta Tor/em had jumped out of hyperspace above the Black Planet; Ge'tal looked over Kestra's shoulder and simply whistled in awe. The Black Planet was a decent size planet and it had a decent size asteroid built wrapped around it but because it had no sun and one moon, it was casted in darkness. Kestra looked at him briefly but she didn't say anything, most likely didn't have anything to say as well./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ge'tal looked at her; she had looked away so that she can concentrate on flying. Kestra was in her typical black embeskar'gam/em. Her braid was longer than when he had first meet her and she lost the remaining baby fat that she had, she was becoming the attractive woman that almost every man would want though Prince Xizor was already on that list and so was Ge'tal but unlike Xizor or any other man that would come into her life, he knew that she already had her eye on someone. And that was Venku Skirata, her childhood friend but she didn't know if he felt the same way for her and if Ge'tal was honest with himself, he hoped that the feelings are not mutual./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra turned her head slowly to look at him and said, "Can you not stare at me? It's very uncomfortable."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Sorry, Captain." Ge'tal said looking away, Kestra stared at him for a few minutes then she looked away. Around them, the rest of their group jumped out of hyperspace. She pressed the comm button and said, "Alright, folks…let's land on the planet and get this party started." They did what she said without any comment, they had already gone through their plan of attack back on Mandaloreem./em/p  
div style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"  
p class="MsoNormal"em /em/p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emKestra was in the dining area with everyone, some were in beskar'gam and others were in civvies. They were all around the table with a hologram on the table; it was projecting an image of the Black Planet. Kestra was giving the debriefing since she knew more about the planet and these creatures then they did./em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em"Okay, so here is what we are going to do," Kestra said pointing at the planet. "We will land on the Black Planet and set up positions for attack, the air on the Black Planet is breathable so don't worry about gas masks since it's the home of those nasty creatures…how you want to go about what groups you should be in up to you since the one thing that we should not do fight them alone, they are simple too dangerous to fight alone." Kestra pauses again and adds. "While we are waiting for them to come to us, we will be setting up traps and one bomb that Shysa was so kind to have made for this mission…that is all, I advise you all to get some sleep and prepare for tomorrow. If there are any changes to the plan then I will tell you." /em/p  
div style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Surprisingly no one has any questions during that meeting but Ge'tal knew that they trusted that Kestra knew what she was doing and that she would lead them to victory. He looks at her again; she was concentrating on flying through the asteroid built that was around the planet. Ge'tal that she was acting odd since she had woken up, he didn't know what had caused her to act like that but he trusted her enough that whatever was bothering her that she would tell him./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"The comm crackled and Vhetin's voice came through, "How's it going, Kestra?" Kestra twitched as she was in one of her trances and pressed the button, saying, "It's going okay, emCi'ika/em…follow me." She pulled down the yoke and flew the freighter down to the surface of the Black Planet. Kestra landed and turned off the engine. "Let's go…we got a lot of work to do." Kestra said as she stood up and walked out of the cockpit with Ge'tal and Shuk'orok behind her, Jax was at her heels grumbling. /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"The emKa'rta Tor/em's ramp lowered, hitting the rock with a loud thud. Jax trotted down the ramp in front of Kestra, which was surprising since he was always behind Kestra. She looks at the others as they walked towards her and said, "Set up the traps while I set up the bomb." Kestra turns and walks away, Jax following after her./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra picks up a crate and takes it to the tallest rock; she places the crate down and opens it. She reaches into crate and pulls out a large oval shaped device, placing it down on the ground. Kestra kneels down in front of it and started to key in the code; after it was done she stood up and looked up at the sky. emWe will have a major fight on our hands soon/em, Kestra thought./p  
div style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"  
p class="MsoNormal" /p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"It was the sound of explosion that alerted Kestra and her small group that the first wave of those creatures had slipped into their first trap, she had guessed that they were immune to the moon light and she was proven right…which wasn't something comforting to her. "Get ready..." Kestra said calmly as she climbed up a rock to perch on though hidden from the creatures and all around her she can see the rest of her team climbing up onto rocks as well. The plan is to have the mines kill the majority of the creatures while she and her team pick off the survivors which won't be easy given the fact that these creatures are tough. Jax was lying down next to her, his eyes fixed on the sky above them his ears swerving around to pick up the sounds that no one human can hear./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"There was a loud roar, Kestra looked up and saw a great column of fire and smoke rising in the air…looks like they triggered one of the larger patches of mines. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Jax still up onto his hunches his eyes focusing on the area ahead of them and his tail wrapped around his paws the tip twitched every now and again but other than that he was still./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra shifted into a better sitting position, bringing up her sniper rifle and aiming it at the area that Jax was looking at. Her movement caused Jax to get into a crouched position, his long tail waving back and forth above the ground. He whimpered softly and deep in his throat, his whole body quivering just waiting for the command from her to hunt and kill./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"She waited until the creatures swarmed out closer before whispering, "Kill." Jax lets out a high pitched squeal and bolted from his position on the rock, his paws allowing him to run easily and quickly over the rocky landscape and his long tail allowed him make fast turns and to keep his balance as he ran./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra aimed her rifle at a creature and pulled the trigger just as Jax leaped onto another creature and the others came out of hiding, joining in on the fight. Jax went to the throat of the creature, his bone crashing jaws ended the life of the creature quickly and he released and attacked another as his master brought down another one. She didn't how many were alive but she hoped that if she and her friends were to die than the bombs that she had place here would finish off the remaining creatures off…/p  
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p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Surprisingly the fight didn't last that, apparently the mines that they had placed around and ahead of them worked a little too well and had killed off almost all the creatures so all they had to do was clean up the survivors which wasn't that many./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Well, I was expecting a much longer fight and I must say I am slightly disappointed." Ge'tal said as he walked up to Kestra who was sitting on a rock, petting Jax who had laid his head on her lap. His eyes were closed and he was making a warbling sound, the tip of his tail twitching./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra looks at Ge'tal, not pausing in her petting and said, "Most people who view that as a good thing…I do, those creatures would have been used on innocents and on us." Her voice was low when she said it, something that wasn't like her at all. Ge'tal raised an eyebrow at her odd behavior but didn't say anything./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"She stands up causing Jax to pull his head away and stand up as well, though the animal stretched and yawned massively, revealing his dagger like teeth and long canine teeth. He stands up, rubbing against his master's leg, making a humming like sound. "Come on…let's go back to Mandalore so Fenn can relax." Kestra said walking towards her ship, Jax trailing behind her. Shuk'orok was already there and prepping the freighter for takeoff. The others had left but not before telling Kestra to meet them at the cantina for drinks which she promised to go./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Vhetin walks up to Ge'tal and whispered, "What's wrong with Kestra?" Ge'tal blinked in surprise, he had thought Vhetin had left with the rest but apparently he too noticed Kestra's odd behavior. "No idea, she's been like that since we got here and it's starting to worry me but I know that she won't tell us what's wrong." Ge'tal whispered back, keeping his eyes on Kestra./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yeah, I'm worried about her." Vhetin said with a heavy sigh which sounded raspy because of the speakers. Ge'tal smiled and held out his hand towards Vhetin, saying, "Don't worry, Vhetin. I'll watch over her for you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Vhetin clasps Ge'tal's forearm with his hand and said, "I'll hold you to that and if anything happens to her I will hurt you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Ge'tal laughs at that and smiles, he was used to being threatened by the people that cared for Kestra so he wasn't offended or worried about it. "I will, I promise you that." The two men shook once and then parted, going to their ships. Ge'tal walked up the ramp and as he walked to the cockpit the ramp slide up./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""What did he want?" Kestra asked when he walked into the cockpit, her shapely dark brown eyebrow arched in curiosity. "Ah, he was just wondering if you were okay." Ge'tal said with a smile. She looks at him for a few minutes in silence before looked away with a mumbled, "I am fine." Kestra grabs the steering yokes and pulled up. The old freighter responded easily to her touch and lifted up and out of Black Planet atmosphere; she began punching in the coordinates for Mandalore. When the light turned green, she pulled the lever back and watched as the stars turned into white lines as the freighter jumped into hyperspace./p  
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p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"em /em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"emOyu'baat/em, Keldabe, Mandalore/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"The emOyu'baat/em was even more crowded than usual; mainly to celebrate life and Ge'tal couldn't blame them since they were almost completely killed off by creatures that were sent by the Emperor. Kestra was still with Fenn, reporting to him what had happened and why they were back so quickly./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"He heard a beep and reached towards his belt, pulling off his comlink and turning it on. "Kestra! Are you done with Fenn?" Ge'tal asked, yelling to be heard over the noise./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Yeah, I am heading there even as we speak. I thought Fenn wouldn't let me leave until tomorrow morning." She said with a sigh that sounded raspy because of the static. He laughs at that and said, "He probably doesn't get that many pretty ladies that visit him."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra scoffs and said, "Yeah, right…Fenn is a very good loo-" And suddenly, her end went dead which was followed by a loud bomb. Ge'tal eyes widen, a bad feeling going through him as he runs towards the door, Aramis and the rest close at his heels./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""KESTRA!" Ge'tal yelled about to run towards the wreckage but Aramis stopped him. "It's too later, Ge'tal! She's dead! There's no way she could have saved that!" The bartender said, his voice thick with grief and that's when Ge'tal's knees went knee, and he dropped to his knees overcome with grief and horror./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Vhetin walked up behind him and even though Ge'tal couldn't see his face, he knew that the other man was looking at the wreckage. Vhetin didn't say anything but Ge'tal knew that he was feeling the same thing as everyone else. Venku was holding Kal who was crying and the young man was struggling not to cry as well while Tarron, Corey and Walon stared at the wreckage in horror./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Shuk'orok lets out a mournful roar and Jay went to stand next to the Wookiee, resting her arm around his waist to comfort the Wookiee who had lost the person he had sworn to protect./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""What the hell happened?" Tarron said finally finding his voice. One of the Mandalorians who was there before them turns and said, "It was a hit and I can bet my money on that is was from the Empire since word probably got back to them about what had happened."/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Vhetin looked at the Mandalorian and said, "But they would have targeted us as well so why just Kestra?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"The Mandalorian shrugged and said, "Hey, I am just brainstorming here and do you really know Kestra?" And with that the mysterious Mandalorian walked off, and they pushed his words away not wanting to worry about them for now. They were going to focus on getting the body and burning her so she can join her family in the afterlife./p  
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p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;" /p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"The Mandalorian headed towards the hangar bay, heading to an old XS stock light freighter that had the name The emAnother Idiot's Array/em on the side of the freighter. The Mandalorian taps on the hull and steps back at the ramp loaded and he walked up it, the ramp closed behind him. He looked around and a voice said from behind him, "Did anyone follow you?" The Mandalorian spun around but he didn't go for his blaster instead he pulled off his helmet, revealing an attractive young woman with a tanned complexion. She had dark brown hair that was pulled back in a messy bun and she had almond shaped brown eyes. Her name was Shae Verd./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""No, they are too focused on mourning your death, emad'ika/em." Shae said clipping her helmet to her belt and looking at her distant cousin./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra Hett doesn't respond at first, her eyes scanning over the face of the woman who had helped her faked her death. "I owe you one, cousin." She finally said crossing her arms over her chest. Shae waved her words away with a casual wave of her hand and said, "Don't worry about it." She wore a black tank top under a black bantha hide jacket that were tucked under armored gauntlets of a metallic gray color on both forearms over fingerless gloves and black form-fitting pants that were tucked into armored boots. Kestra's utility belt was adorned with several pouches and the holsters for her hand blasters were attached to her belt. That wasn't the only change she did to her appearance, her once braided long hair was now worn freely down her back but there has three small braids on the side of her head with red and black beads eat the end of the braids./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra smiled and said, "Thank you, Shae." Shae inclined her head towards her before she turns on her heel, putting her helmet back on and the ramp began to lower./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;""Good luck, cousin. I hope your new life suits you better than your old life." Shae said before leaving, Kestra watched her leave in silence and the ramp slide back up. She turns and heads to the cockpit. She slips into the pilot seat and began to push buttons, the emAnother Idiot's Array/em started up with a roar and Kestra grabs the steering yokes and pulled up. The old freighter responded easily to her touch and lifted up and out of Mandalore atmosphere; she began punching in the coordinates for Alderaan./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"The freighter was silent as she prepped for the flight to Alderaan, sadly Jax had been with her but he hadn't made it, the explosion killed him and she was forced to leave him behind. Hopefully Shae would give him the proper burial he deserved while Kestra was pretending to be dead./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"She sighed heavily and shook her head, turning back towards the console and punched the button to go into hyperspace, she watched as the stars streaked together as the freighter jumped into hyperspace./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra leans back in the pilot seat, crossing her arms over her chest and resting her feet on an empty stop on the console. She closes her eyes and slips into a trance; she would stay in that trance until she gets to her destination./p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="color: #2c3635; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: #fffffa;"Kestra Verd the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter was now dead and Kestra Shar the Smuggle was now in her place and would finally have her vengeance against the people who had taken everything from her./p 


End file.
